Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is an
Emmy- and
Golden Globe award-winning
British-born
Canadian actor, well known for his lead role of
Jack Bauer on the television series
24.
Biography
Early life
Sutherland was born in London, England, the son of
Donald Sutherland and
Shirley Douglas, both of whom are successful Canadian actors.
[Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio] He has Scottish ancestry from both parents and is the grandson of Canadian politician
Tommy Douglas. Sutherland and his twin sister, Rachel, were born in London (in
Saint Mary's Hospital,
Paddington) while his parents were working there. As a result, through the
jus soli and the
jus sanguinis, he is both a
Canadian citizen and a
British citizen.
His family moved to
Corona,
California, shortly afterwards, but his parents eventually divorced in 1972.
In 1975, Sutherland moved with his mother to Toronto, Canada, where he attended
elementary school at
Crescent Town Elementary School in
East York, Toronto, and
high school at
St. Andrew's College,
Martingrove Collegiate Institute,
Harbord Collegiate Institute and
Malvern Collegiate Institute. He also spent a semester at Regina Mundi College in London, Ontario, Canada, and attended
Crescent Town Elementary School and St. Clair Junior High School in
East York, Ontario.
Career
Stand By Me was the first film Sutherland made in the United States
.
. As of 2008, Sutherland has appeared in over seventy films, most notably
The Lost Boys,
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me,
A Few Good Men,
Flatliners,
Young Guns,
The Vanishing,
The Three Musketeers,
Stand by Me,
Dark City,
To End All Wars and
A Time To Kill,
Mirrors (2008) as well as
The Sentinel.
In 2005, Sutherland was inducted into
Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto,
[Canada's Walk of Fame: Kiefer Sutherland, actor] where both of his parents have also been inducted. Sutherland was also the first
Inside the Actors Studio guest to be the child of a former guest; his father, Donald, appeared on the show in 1998.
Sutherland was featured on the cover of the April 2006 edition of
Rolling Stone, in an article entitled "Alone in the Dark with Kiefer Sutherland". The article began with Sutherland revealing his interest to be killed off in
24. However, he stated, "Don't get me wrong. I love what I do." It also revealed that he devotes 10 months a year working on
24.
[Hedegaard, Erik. Kiefer Sutherland: Heart of Darkness, Rolling Stone, 7 April 2006. Accessed 26 May 2008.]
He has starred in Japanese commercials for
Calorie Mate, performing a parody of his Jack Bauer character. Sutherland also provides voiceovers for the current ad campaign for the
Ford Motor Company of Canada. These advertisements are thematically of the
comedy genre. In mid-2006, he voiced the
Apple Computer advertisement announcing the inclusion of
Intel chips in their
Macintosh computer line.
[Apple Computer advertisement] He also voices the introduction to
NHL games on the
Versus network in the U.S. Recently, he has starred in
Argentine TV commercials for
Citroën C4 sedan. He has recently done voice over for a commercial for Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program. He voiced a major character in
Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War.
[
].]]
Sutherland will executive produce the two-hour pilot of
Phenomenon. Maggie Murphy will also be an executive producer for the show. The
Sci Fi Channel ordered a script to be written. The show revolves around a mysterious young female prodigy who leads a crack
team of experts in investigating odd and supernatural anomalies of nature.
[Sutherland's Sci Fi 'Phenomenon': Actor dons his executive producer hat 22 March 2007] Sutherland is currently the top celebrity producer of
The 1 Second Film.
24
Since 2001, Sutherland is most widely associated with the role of
Jack Bauer, on the critically acclaimed television series
24.
After being nominated four times for the "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series"
Primetime Emmy Award, Sutherland won the award in 2006 for his role in
24s fifth season. His father, Donald, was also an Emmy winner; he won an Emmy award for his role in Citizen X in 1996. In the opening skit of the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards, Sutherland made an appearance as his 24
character, Jack Bauer. He was also nominated for Best actor in a Drama Television Series in the 2007 Golden Globe Awards for 24
. According to his latest contract, his salary of $40 million for three seasons of the show make him the highest-earning actor on television.[Kiefer Sutherland signs on for more 24, ]AskMen.com
, 11 April 2006. Accessed 4 July 2008.
Sutherland constantly emphasizes that the show is merely "entertainment."
[The Huffington Post] Br.Gen. Patrick Finnegan visited the set of
24 in February 2007 to urge the show's makers to reduce the number of torture scenes
[Buncombe, Andrew. US military tells Jack Bauer: Cut out the torture scenes ... or else!, The Independent, 13 February 2007. Accessed 26 May 2008.] and Sutherland accepted an invitation from the U.S. military to tell
West Point cadets it is wrong to torture prisoners.
[WENN. U.S. Army Invites Sutherland to Give Anti-Torture Speech, Hollywood.com, 26 February 2007. Accessed 26 May 2008.]
Personal life
Several episodes of
24 have allegedly been rewritten to work around minor injuries Sutherland sustained when partying. In an interview with the British
Daily Telegraph, Sutherland said, "I can't deny half the stuff that's been written about me has been true. I've done some stupid things. You have to take responsibility, go, 'That was embarrassing,' and move forward as best you can."
[Daily Telegraph. 24 heaven Retrieved 19 April 2007. ]
During the autumn of 2001, Sutherland unintentionally interrupted the filming of the premiere episode of an online series titled,
The Lonely Island.
In the episode, "White Power," the main characters develop an addiction to teeth whitener, and eventually mug an old woman to facilitate their addiction. Sutherland, driving by at the time, believed the mugging was real and jumped out of his car to intervene. A small portion of Sutherland's appearance is displayed after the credits, though the portion is only Kiefer stopping his car and looking at them.
[Lonely sland Guys - White Power!] This anecdote was recounted by
Andy Samberg.
He has one daughter, Sarah Jude, born February 18, 1988, from his first marriage to Camelia Kath, to whom he was married from September 12, 1987—1990. Through his marriage to Camelia, he became step-father to Michelle Kath, the daughter of
Chicago guitarist/singer
Terry Kath. In 2006, Sutherland became a step-grandfather when Michelle Kath gave birth to a son, Hamish.
Julia Roberts met Sutherland in 1990, when he was her co-star in
Flatliners. In August 1990, Roberts and Sutherland announced their engagement, with an elaborate studio-planned wedding scheduled for June 14, 1991.Roberts broke the engagement three days before the wedding when she discovered Sutherland had been meeting with a stripper named Amanda Rice. His friend
Jason Patric ran off with Roberts to Ireland.
On June 29, 1996, he married
Kelly Winn. The couple separated in 1999. He filed for divorce in 2004. The divorce was finalized on May 16, 2008. He has two stepsons from this marriage.
Sutherland is a well-known collector of many guitars, a majority of which are
Gibson Les Pauls. Recently, the Gibson Custom shop has released a guitar (signed by Sutherland himself), the KS-336, as part of their 'Inspired By' series.
[Kiefer Sutherland Custom Series] He is a fan of the
USC Trojans football, and recorded a birthday message for USC head coach
Pete Carroll's 56th birthday.
[Ben Malcolmson, A surprise birthday present, USCRipsIt.com, September 15, 2007, Accessed August 18, 2008.]
Sutherland was
arrested early September 25, 2007 on
misdemeanor drunk driving
charges, his second time since another incident in 2004, after failing a
field sobriety test. He tested over the state's
legal blood alcohol limit and later released on $25,000
bail. Sutherland pled
no contest to the
DUI charge and was
sentenced to 48 days in
jail.
[lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/video_player/index/php/962479.phtml] Initially, he arranged to spend 18 days in jail during
24's winter break in late December and early January 2008, planning to return to jail after production wrapped up. However, the
Hollywood writers' strike interrupted production, allowing him to serve his sentence in 48 consecutive days. He was quoted in
People magazine that he was incarcerated for
New Year's, his birthday and Christmas and only had one visitor.
Filmography
Acting
|
Notes:
1 The Bay Boy was Sutherland's first film role, for which he was nominated for the
Genie Award for best actor.
² Appeared alongside his father,
Donald Sutherland
³ Appeared alongside his mother,
Shirley Douglas
Directing
Awards and nominations
- DVD Exclusive Awards
- 2003: nominated for best actor -- Dead Heat
Ranked #68 on the 2006 Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world's most powerful celebrities. His earnings were a reported $23 million.
- Emmy Awards
- 2007: nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2006: won for Outstanding Drama Series -- 24
- 2006: won for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2005: nominated for Outstanding Drama Series -- 24
- 2005: nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2004: nominated for Outstanding Drama Series -- 24
- 2004: nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2003: nominated for Outstanding Drama Series -- 24
- 2003: nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2002: nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- Genie Awards
- 1985: nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role -- The Bay Boy
- Golden Globe Awards
- 2007: nominated for Best Performance by an actor in a drama television series -- 24
- 2006: nominated for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2004: nominated for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2003: nominated for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2002: won for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- Monte-Carlo TV Festival
- 2006: won for Best International Producer -- 24
- 2006: won for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- MTV Movie Awards
- 2004: nominated for Best Villain -- Phone Booth
- 1997: nominated for Best Villain -- A Time to Kill
- People's Choice Awards
- 2006: nominated for Favorite Male TV Star -- 24
- 2008: nominated for Favorite Male TV Star
- Satellite Awards
- 2003: won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Drama -- 24
- 2002: won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Drama -- 24
- Screen Actors Guild Awards
- 2006: won for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2005: nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2005: nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2004: won for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2003: nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series -- 24
- 2003: nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series -- 24
- Slamdunk Film Festival
- Teen Choice Awards
- 2006: nominated for Choice TV Actor - Drama/Action Adventure -- 24
- Television Critics Association Awards
- 2006: nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Drama -- 24
- 2005: nominated for Individual Achievement in Drama -- 24
- 2004: nominated for Individual Achievement in Drama -- 24
- 2003: nominated for Individual Achievement in Drama -- 24
- 2002: nominated for Individual Achievement in Drama -- 24
- Western Heritage Awards
